Marijuana

Marijuana law unfair I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2006. I have tried all available legal drugs for MS, and nothing helps my symptoms as effectively as marijuana. I am not a drug abuser or the stereotypical user. I am currently working on my master's degree at a Christian university and have no desire to legalize any harmful drugs. My symptoms include tremors, loss of appetite, nausea and sleep problems, among others. Marijuana safely treats all of them. I have previously been prescribed OxyContin to treat my pain.

Binh Sieu Tran and his associates in California were making so much money from their marijuana operation that they spared no expense when it came time to shipping the drugs to Orlando, agents say. The overnight packages bound for the Hyatt Regency were double boxed and glued excessively - a tactic used by criminals to mask the smell of drugs. An expensive storage case inside the boxes was locked and doused in Lysol. But on Dec. 5, investigators intercepted the package at a UPS center, opened the double-locked box and found 18 pounds of high-grade marijuana inside, according to a Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation report.

A Kissimmee pilot was sentenced to five years in federal prison Monday for his role in a marijuana smuggling operation, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Randall C. Starcher, 44, pleaded guilty in October in Orlando federal court to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. In addition to the prison sentence, Starcher was also ordered Monday to forfeit a Cessna 206 aircraft, which was used to transport the drugs. The U.S. Attorney's Office said Starcher was paid to fly loads of marijuana from Texas to Central Florida from 2009 to 2010.

Troy Kishbaugh is chair of GrayRobinson's Health Care Practice Group and a member of the firm's new Regulated Products Group, which will advise clients on medical marijuana. The Legislature has authorized the production, sale and use of low-THC so-called "Charlotte's Web" marijuana products, and in November voters will consider an amendment legalizing all medical marijuana in Florida. Kishbaugh spoke with Sentinel reporter Scott Powers . CFB: If Florida voters approve Amendment 2 in November, how much of the law is likely to be clear from the constitutional amendment, and how much of it must be defined by the Florida Legislature, the Department of Health and other state bureaucrats?

Agents from a narcotics task force found 44 marijuana plants at a grow house in DeBary Friday and arrested a man who lived there, they said. The investigators were responding to an anonymous tip about drug activity at the house in the 200 block of Sunrise Boulevard, they said. Armed with a search warrant, members of the West Volusia Narcotics Task Force found the plants, which ranged from seedlings to some that were 3 feet high. They were growing in a bedroom and in a closet equipped with special lights and fans, authorities said.

Family members of a Lake County man arrested out of state on drug charges went to collect his belongings from his rental in Grand Island, but when they did, the property's landlord discovered a marijuana grow house operation inside. Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies said they found roughly 100 marijuana plants today at the property on Slice Lane in Grand Island. They have a street value of about $100,000. The property's sole resident, Craig Sancher, was arrested on Monday in North Carolina on drug charges, according to Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Vachon.

Perhaps the time has come for the government to consider legalizing marijuana and treating its use and sale the same as alcoholic beverages. I have never used it or knowingly been around anybody smoking it, but it appears that almost anyone who has a desire to use it could buy some. The billions of dollars a year in largely illegal sales — medical marijuana is legally sold in some states — are going directly to drug cartels and criminals. Several states control the sale of alcoholic beverages by allowing those beverages to be sold only through state owned and operated stores.

GEORGE DIAZ'S column (Feb. 17) about pro athletes as role models was interesting because of what it didn't say. Among his ''gamut of sins,'' including sex and ''drug'' offenses, Diaz declined to list Boston Celtics' center Robert Parish's arrest for possession of several ounces of marijuana. Nor was there any mention of the pot busts of which the Magic's Scott Skiles was the subject. Skiles was the only person quoted in the column. Is Diaz implying that marijuana use is not sinful enough to rate mention alongside other proscribed behavior?

Deputies trying to locate a fugitive at a southwest Orange County home instead found 112 marijuana plants and eight pounds of pot, they said. After obtaining a search warrant, investigators arrested Elizabeth Moody, 26, and Robert Newton, 32, on charges of cultivation of cannabis and possession of more then 20 grams of the drug.

Acting on a tip, Altamonte Springs police served a search warrant today at a storage facility where four units had been converted into a marijuana grow house. Madison Eugene Priest, 54, of St. Cloud, was at the facility when officers arrived and faces charges of possession and cultivation of marijuana, said Altamonte Springs police Officer Timothy Hyer. At the time of his arrest, Priest was on federal probation for the same charges, Hyer said. Late last year, Priest rented four units at South Seminole Business and Storage, 540 N. State Road 434, Hyer said.

Agents said Friday they dismantled a crime ring shipping high-quality marijuana from California to International Drive hotel rooms, where associates would sign for the packages, before moving the drugs to suburban Orlando stash houses. The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that 26 suspected associates of the ring are facing charges in what's being called "Operation Hotel California. " Twenty one suspects are from Florida and five are in California. Another three people were arrested during raids at suspected stash houses Friday, MBI Director Larry Zwieg said.

A new group organized by supporters of medical marijuana seeks to assure Florida voters that if they approve Amendment 2 in November, laws and regulations can be written to keep Florida from having wide-open marijuana use. Leaders of the new Florida For Care say their group includes opponents, including former Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, and neutral parties to draft and propose a system to limit medical marijuana beyond what...

A Daytona Beach business owner was arrested and charged Thursday with possession of synthetic marijuana, police reported today. Juned Jakir, 27, of DeLand, owner of Ridgewood Food Store at 616 N. Ridgewood Ave., and Hari Chereddy, 61, of Orange City, were arrested on charges of possession of synthetic marijuana with the intent to sell, according to an affidavit. Law officers obtained a search warrant for the business and found nearly 3,000 grams, about six pounds, of suspected synthetic marijuana, worth about $7,500, according to a police report.

The parents of two young children are facing a laundry list of charges after deputies found them living in a house of filth and drugs this week in Polk County. Dustin Deck, 28, and Katie Renner, 27, were arrested Tuesday after authorities discovered their home in the 5600 block of Viburnum Court in Polk City soiled with animal waste from 15 pit bulls and infested with insects. The children, ages 1 ½ and 5, were placed with a relative as the Florida Department of Children and Families investigates.

One of the most dangerous things Florida could do right now is dismiss new reports out of Colorado as a 2014 remake of "Reefer Madness. " There are more emergency room visits by kids and adults sickened by marijuana-laced candy. There are cases of drugged driving. And there's the story of one man who bought pot-infused candy, started talking "like it's the end of the world" and then killed his wife. These examples aren't drummed up by the anti-pot lobby. These are real observations and cases.

John Morgan rightfully cannot contain his disgust and disbelief with the dishonesty and duplicity of the NFL's drug-testing policy. Morgan, the high-powered Orlando attorney and the financial and political catalyst behind the effort to get medical marijuana legalized in Florida, is astounded the NFL is suspending current players for testing positive for marijuana at the same time former players just filed a lawsuit against the league for illegally dispensing...

TALLAHASSEE - E. Ronal Mudd was a Methodist chaplain who helped open Florida's first hospice in Jacksonville, then became a cancer patient in it. By 1984, Mudd's final weeks were consumed with just trying to keep his food down. He asked a friend to get him some marijuana. That friend was Don Gaetz, now the Republican Florida Senate president. "The quality of his life was undermined by this intense nausea," Gaetz recalls. "Ron Mudd said to me, 'I understand that marijuana might help; can you get me some?

Dude, take a hit of this. Polk County sheriff's deputies say two brothers definitely were not sharing peaceful, mellow vibes as they got into an argument this weekend. In response, deputies say, one brother grabbed several marijuana plants growing in the yard and began hitting his sibling. According to the Polk County Sheriff's office, the department received a domestic-disturbance call at about 6:20 p.m. Saturday. Deputies said Jackie Brown, 33, reported that he and his brother - Rodney J. Brown, 31 - had been involved in a verbal altercation which then turned physical.

Orange County leaders are preparing to adopt local regulations for medical marijuana if voters approve it statewide this fall, with one key goal being to keep it from tourism-heavy areas. Commissioner Ted Edwards asked that county officials prepare local rules for where it could be grown, dispensed and smoked in the event that Amendment 2 passes this fall. Recent polls show it's highly popular at the moment with voters. County officials pointed out that several other municipal governments, from Mount Dora, to Maitland to Flagler Beach, are in various stages of creating local ordinances to regulate where dispensaries or growing could occur and lay out other proposed rules, such as hours of operation.